I Swear
by DeadSavage
Summary: A single word, filled with anguish, and pain, and above all, love, rang out as a single arrow pierced through Tony's chest, just above the arc reactor. His Tony. No one else's. Short story full of angst! Frostiron/Ironfrost. WARNINGS: Boy x Boy, Major character death, an abundance of FEELS. There will eventually be a sequel.


**I'm sorry in advance! I know I don't usually write angst-y stuff, but once I started I couldn't stop! It's better if you read while listening to Og Lengra (I made myself cry while writing this [i had the song looped] and I looked retarded) just trust me! Drop a review, every little bit of encouragement boosts my spirits and pointers/tips help me a great deal. Thanks for reading!**

**\(-_-)/ im out.**

_"NO!"_

A single word, filled with anguish, and pain, and above all, _love, _rang out as a single arrow pierced through Tony's chest, just above the arc reactor. _His _Tony. _No one _else's.

Time seemed to slow to a crawl as Tony looked down at his chest. What he saw was the long tip of an arrow, the shaft glinting a dangerous red against the glare of the sun. His mind moved sluggishly to process this, trying desperately to understand just _what the hell _just sent thousands upon millions of jolts of pain throughout his body. Slowly, his eyes dragged upward and he saw Loki, face white with fear, running towards him. Tony shook his head and his knees buckled from underneath him, hundreds of small shards of glass shredding his jeans and digging into his flesh.

"_No! _Tony, no!"

Loki jumped over a steel girder and dashed forwards over to where Tony kneeled, gasping in pain. His lungs as well as his eyes burned, this wasn't supposed to happen, and this wasn't how Tony should die. Tony _wasn't _supposed to die. Up above the ruins of Stark Tower- the building had been demolished during the earlier battle- Clint was looking down at his former friend, his past "brother in arms" as Thor liked to say. Slowly, as if in a daze, he lifted his hand to his ear piece to relay the message that no one wanted to hear, but was completely and utterly necessary.

"Stark's down..." he paused for a long moment before continuing, "I got 'em. Loki is making his way over to him now." A few moments passed before anyone answered him. Steve was the first and only one to speak.

"We're on our way now... Good job, Hawkeye."

"Yeah,"

Loki finally reached Tony and dropped down heavily beside him, grabbing his face roughly, forcing Tony to stay conscious. There were angry tears slipping past Loki's eyes and down his face. Loki smacked Tony's cheek a few times, begging him to look at him.

"Goddammit, Tony, don't you dare die on me, don't you fucking _dare!" _Loki howled. Tony looked at him bleary-eyed and then down at the arrow protruding from his chest.

"Loki..." he murmured. A small trail of blood left the corner of his mouth and he coughed, splattering blood across his and Loki's knees. "I'm dying... I-I'm gonna die... Aren't I?" His words were pained and spaced for long breaths of air, his voice rasping.

""No, I won't let youdie; you're not going to die." Loki said frantically. Distantly his mind registered footsteps approaching them. "I'll heal you, we need to get this arrow out." Tony nodded tiredly, but he already knew it was no use. He was done for, killed by his past friends as one of the enemy.

Loki clutched the arrow in a white-knuckled fist and pulled, the arrow sliding out of Tony's torso and causing the genius to scream in pain. Loki tossed the arrow to the side and pressed a hand to Tony's chest, trying to use his magic to heal the damage made. Blood continued to flow freely from the wound left, and Tony's face grew paler and paler as he lost more blood. Loki was shedding desperate tears as his magic failed to heal Tony.

"Loki, please... don't- don't tire yourself out... I'm not gonna make it." A groan escaped Tony's lips as a wave of pain crashed over him. "Don't... please."

Loki whimpered helplessly and pressed his face into the crook of Tony's neck, a quiet sob slipping out of his mouth. Tony wrapped his arms around Loki and saw his friends- no, they were no longer his friends, they hadn't been in quite some time, not since he had betrayed him—standing some distance away and he sighed, closing his eyes against the ripples of pain and the numbness spreading across his body. Slowly his arms lost their strength and Loki pulled away, Tony letting Loki lower him so that his head rested in Loki's lap. Lazily, Tony's eyes met Loki's and he smiled tiredly.

"I'm going to see... Hel, again, Loki.. I'll wait for you with her..."

Loki smiled through his tears, carding his fingers through Tony's hair and he leant down to press a kiss to Tony's forehead. "I know, darling. She will keep you safe until I can join you." A snort was heard from the billionaire and Loki grinned, exhausted and already knew what Tony would say. '_I don't need-'_

"-a girl to protect me, who do you..., think... I am?"

Loki laughed quietly and opened his mouth to speak.

"I think you are the most thick-headed, self centered, wonderful, and amazing man I have ever met... Your mind rivals my own, as do your good looks," Tony smirked distantly, "and your ego is as inflated as those balloons you showed me in that silly Midguardian parade." He paused to wipe his tears and pulled Tony into his chest tightly. "You're my genius, billionaire, no-longer-playboy, philanthropist, and I'm glad to have had you by my side as well as stand by yours, Anthony Stark."

The sound of boots crunching broken glass reached their ears and Loki scowled. Tony reached up and brushed his bloodied fingers against Loki's lips gently, wiping away the expression. "None of that..." he murmured."I love you... Loki, I love you so much... I'll be waiting on you."

"I know you will, Love."

"Promise me you won't... kill yourself..."

"...I swear."

"Promise me you won't _make_... someone kill you..."

A broken sob, and then a reply: "I-I swear."

"One last... thing."

"Anything."

"I want you to give me a funeral... like the one we saw... in Asguard..." he paused to take a breath, pulling more blood into his lungs as well as oxygen."But out by my Malibu house... you remember it, right?"

"Of course," Loki said softly.

"Do it there..."

"I will."

"Promise me."

"Iswear."

"Good..." Tony whispered, his eyes fluttering shut. "Goodbye, Loki... I love you."

"I love you too, Anthony. Goodbye for now."

Tony took a few more pained breaths before coughing up a mouthful of blood, all the air leaving his body and his heart slowing from lack of blood. After a few moments of struggle the black haze of death finally stole Tony from Loki, his soul departing for the realm of Helheim. An animalistic cry rang through the city as Tony went still in Loki's arms, leaving Loki's throat raw and his eyes stinging with tears.

"Move away from Stark."

Loki looked up to where the Avengers plus Nick Fury stood in a semi circle around him, and glared up at the man in the trench coat.

"No, I swore to him that I would take his body to—"

"We know," Bruce murmured quietly, "We're just going to do an autopsy report and clean him up."

"Do not touch the arc reactor; it is not yours to play with." Loki growled.

"Brother, I give my word that no one with touch Stark's metal heart." Thor said gently.

"That is _not _heart!" Loki snapped, his arms tightening around Tony's body. "Do not insult him in this way, you _idiot._ Anthony had a heart, I know this for fact, because he loved me, and now his heart no longer beats, though his reactor lives on." Pale fingers brushed over the slight bump in Tony's shirt where the reactor lay, and his speech continued silently; '_Because I listened to his heart beat slowly on the nights we spent together on his couch, when we simply sat and enjoyed each other's company. The nights when we would just lay in each other's arms.'_

"I am sorry, Brother."

"Do not play me for a fool! You, _all. Of. You. _Wanted him dead because he was beginning to question where his morals lay. He began to question where he stood on the battlefield of good and evil." He glared poisonously up at these so called heroes, eyes glowing a deadly green color. "And when he started to lean towards a decision that contradicted your own, you made it your _one _priority to rid this pathetic realm of it's greatest mind. _How. Dare. You?" _

"Stark would have brought this world to it's knees, there was no other option." Fury said placidly, voice like ice. Loki growled and then clamped his mouth shut, trying to hold back the steam of curses and insults trying to escape his throat. He stood, lifting Tony's corpse carefully along with him and looked at him sadly, but with a distant fondness, then back up the Avengers.

"Let's go."

* * *

It was a day and a half later before Loki was told he could give Tony the funeral he had asked for. He was sitting on the small beach by Tony's Malibu house; his legs crossed Indian-style and a bottle of water by his side. He was wearing Tony's clothes—a pair of short pants and his damned Black Sabbath tee—because his Asguardian clothes were much too thick and heavy for this type of weather, plus Tony's scent still lingered on the clothing. The smell of Tony's cologne and motor oil and the detergent Tony preferred.

A helicopter landed on the launch pad Tony had once installed on the roof of his mansion, and in it was the Band of Misfits, as well as their bald-headed leader. With them was Tony's corpse. Loki stood and teleported himself up to the roof and stood to the side as the helicopter stopped. The Avengers piled out of the metal contraption, Thor, Steve, Clint, and Bruce carrying a coffin out with them. Natasha and Fury following close behind.

"There is no need for that." Loki murmured, gesturing at the coffin with his hand. "The funeral pyre is down by the waters."

Soon they were all down by the shore, and once the coffin was on the sands Loki opened it, looking down at his past lover with a small smile. Tony looked just as dashing as ever, a smoky gray, well-cut suit and black tie covering him. Loki eyed the tie for a moment before snapping his fingers, replacing it magically with one Tony had gotten him as a gag gift for their two month anniversary. It was red with the Iron Man helmet dotting it, glowing blue eyes and all. A small grin spread across the Trickster's face, knowing Tony would have enjoyed the humor. Another snap of the fingers and Loki was wearing his Asguardian clothing again, picking Tony up—no, he reminded himself again, Tony's corpse—and setting it on the pyre sitting on the sandy beach. Gently, he laid Tony's body down body down, letting his fingers linger on Tony's wrist. He shuddered and closed his eyes, a few tears dripping down his cheeks.

"Give me the matches..." he asked quietly.

Thor stepped forward with a small box of matches in hand. Not just matches, but from Asguard. They were special, said to bring comfort to the ones the deceased had loved, and help the person's soul to rest. Loki took them with shaking fingers and looked at them in the palm of his hand. This was it then. Slowly, Loki pulled a single match from the box and asked even quieter, "Thor, can you help me move the pyre into the water?" A shuffling was on the sand and Thor moved to pyre, taking a firm grip on the sturdy wood. Loki took a hold as well, and they slid the wooden structure into shallow water, holding it there until Loki could light the match. He raised the tip of the match to the rough edge of the box and struck it quickly, blue-green flames bursting at the tip. The flame was brought down to the small pile of kindling, the fire catching instantly, flames licking upward greedily. Loki threw the stump of the match into the fire and nodded to Thor, who pushed the vessel out into deeper waters.

The pyre slowly drifted out further into the water, the flames growing larger steadily and Loki watched it float away, tears flowing helplessly down his face. A large arm pulled him close by the shoulders, Thor's arm, and Loki rested his face into the crook of Thor's neck. His body shook as silent sobs wracked his lithe frame, and Loki stayed outside until long after the pyre was gone, along with Tony.

'_Soon,' _he swore to himself, as well as to Tony,_ 'soon I will see him again. I must.'_

And he did.

THE END

Dead Savage

**A/N: There _will _be a sequel to this, I'm just not sure when... whenever I get around to it I guess! Thanks so so much guys! Leave a review!**

**frfr,**

**\(-_-)/ im out.**


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